INQUEST HELD

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 112, 19 January 1940, Page 4

INQUEST HELD

ACCIDENT IN HAY FIELD STACKER FALLS ON ELDERLY MAN The inquest into the death of Mr Alfred William Atkinson, who was stkuck by a bay stack.er on a farm at Edgecumbe on Tuesday and succumbed in the Whakatane Hospital later, was held before Mr G. A. Brabant, district coroner, on Wednesday. After evidence of identification and two witnesses had been heard the inquest was adjourned sine die. Constable R. A. A. Prater represented the Police, while Mr L.Buddie watched proceedings on behalf o£ relatives of deceased. William Weston Rae, in a deposition, said that he is a sharemilker employed by James Gow at Edgecumbe. He was a son-in-law of ceased. On the 16th witness was eiu gaged in harvesting operations. "We were about to tie down stacker when the boom swung suddenly round on the oft' side. It tipped over and the main'-mast struck deceased on his back just below the left shoulder. The cause of the stacker tipping was due to the rope which held the boom being'released; that causing the arm to swing round, the weight of it upsetting the stacker. "I heard someone call out and I discovered that the slacker had struck Mr Atkinson. He was not rendered unconscious. I could see that his back was injured and that he required medical attention. I got my car and conveyed him to the hospital. "Deceased was not employed by Mi" Gow, Mr Richardson, or myself. Deceased wa's living with his daughter and myself but he was merely , a guest. He was in receipt of a Social Security pension. He had not been asked to take any part in the haymaking operations." 1 Son's Evidence. Alfred Atkinson said that he was a farmland at present employed by W. W. Rae at Edgecumbe. The deceased was his father. "At 11.30 a.m. on the 16th my father came to boil the billy for the harvesters. He stood about twenty or thirty feet back from the base of the hay stacker and was not assisting with its erection. "I jvvas in the act of- tying the rope to the grab when the boom sud denl,y swung lound on the off-side, the weight causing the stacker to tip over. As it was falling I saw my father take two or three steps forward in an endeavour to get out of the way but unfortunately the main mast,! of the stacker struck him on the back." "If I had not released the rope to tie up the grab the stacker would not have fallen. I thought the guy ropes had been secure, otherwise I would not have released the rope. "I have heard Mr Rae's statement about my father not being employed by anybody. That is correct so far as I know.'"